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California training programs, and what happened to the people who took them

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Firefighters

SOC 33-2011 · 2024-2034

Control and extinguish fires or respond to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk. Duties may include fire prevention, emergency medical service, hazardous material response, search and rescue, and disaster assistance.

How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.

What California expects of this job

Typical pay in California
$87,276per year
Projected openings
25,610
Projected change
+5%
Usually needs
Postsecondary non-degree award

Skills this work uses most

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.

  1. Critical Thinking
  2. Coordination
  3. Service Orientation
  4. Judgment and Decision Making
  5. Active Learning
  6. Monitoring

Pay by region

RegionTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openings
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties)$169,629860
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties)$127,5331,520
Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties)$118,3151,010
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties)$111,4001,790
Vallejo MSA (Solano County)$107,430260
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County)$107,2873,990
San Rafael MD (Marin County)$100,337140
Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County)$90,954290
Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County)$83,9511,160
Salinas MSA (Monterey County)$81,565440
Napa MSA (Napa County)$81,020230
Redding MSA (Shasta County)$79,323250
Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County)$79,292260
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)$77,3692,150
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County)$76,988230
Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County)$76,238280
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County)$76,196440
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County)$76,032250
Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties)$72,402110
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County)$72,1141,940
Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties)$70,550560
North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties)$68,781270
Merced MSA (Merced County)$67,198110
Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County)$67,198280
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties)$65,542560
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties)$65,542460
Visalia MSA (Tulare County)$62,837260
El Centro MSA (Imperial County)$55,412130
Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County)$53,931110
Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County)Not reported520
Chico MSA (Butte County)Not reported160

What the pay actually ranges across

The lowest-paid tenth earn under
$53,717
A quarter earn under
$66,821
Half earn under
$87,276
Three quarters earn under
$112,397
The highest-paid tenth earn over
$139,599

A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.

Similar work

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.

OccupationTypical pay in CaliforniaProjected openingsProjected change
First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers$130,8635,620+4.9%
Fire Inspectors and Investigators$101,7431,410+7.7%
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors$135,2221,590+4%
Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers$43,80265,250+7.6%
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists$105,71919,550+16.4%
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers$57,6407,870+8.2%

Programs that train for this job — 48